The Sound of a Smile
by redleaveshavefallen
Summary: 'My words melted in that childlike light without reaching him. Only the blue summer sky saw what happened.' Chizuru and Yuki, can be taken as a pairing or friendship. Fluff, may give cavities.


**;u; Oh my goodness. I haven't written fluff in so long, and this is fluffy overload. I don't think I'll stop having the fluffies for months because of this.**

**I ship Chizuru and Yuki so hard, ever since the first episode 3 'The Straw-Colored Boy', which I referenced a lot in this. Actually, to refresh myself, I just watched that episode again and nearly cried. Somehow though, I didn't want too much pairing-ness in this. I apologize if there are any inaccuracies, I only learned about this series yesterday and I'm not very far. Thank you for reading, I hope it brightens your day! I'll try to write more for this pairing soon.  
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**I don't own anyone from Kimi to Boku.  
**

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It was summer. The first day, Chizuru had been at every one of their doors, asking to hang out, and every one of them (with the exception of Shun) had rejected him. they went to the festival later that day, and had had an amazing time. But that was only the first day of summer.

By the next day, Chizuru had already started texting all of them with plans to hang out. He was the type of guy who just needed a plan to follow for every moment, and it had to be exciting. Most of the time many of them just made excuses to stay inside, with the occasional group outing to live out the summer.

One day, though, a few weeks in, Yuta became ill. Sick in bed, he was of no entertainment value to Yuki. He had already read all his manga, and playing video games was only fun when Yuta was watching. So when Chizuru decided to text him that day to go out, Yuki actually accepted.

Before, it was just a walk to the bookstore to get some more manga. Chizuru met Yuki at his doorstep, and they set off, the blond walking his bike beside the other. On the way there, however, they saw the park.

"Hey, Yuki, isn't that...?" The other only nodded. It was the playground they had first met, all those years ago. There were a few kids around, but the blue teeter-totters were wide open. Chizuru looked at them wistfully.

"Hey... Let's play." Yuki was about to object, but then his arm was suddenly captured by Chizuru's grip, and he was dragged out to the playground.

"But it's hot... And I need more manga."

"Come on! We can do that later!" His smile wide, Chizuru tugged him to the teeter-totter, and forced him down on one end. He then promptly sat at the other and started teetering; both of them were far too big, so it barely moved.

"This is sort of stupid."

"This is nostalgic! Don't you treasure that day, Yuki?"

The boy in question just gave him that vacant stare he always had, but there was something behind his eyes. He gave a noise of affirmation. "Fine. Let's play."

"Really? Yes!"

Soon they were at the sandbox, Chizuru only feeling a bit silly, and Yuki, not showing any signs of embarrassment. They were building a sand tunnel, like before. Every now and then, Yuki would look up and see Chizuru digging away, focused, a big grin on his face. And he would feel the urge to smile too.

"Hey, hey, I think we're almost there!" They were leaned down against the sand, arms straining. This one had been much larger than their first, to make it 'more fair'. Grains of sand cut underneath their nails, but they dug anyway, determined to see it through.

Fingers brushed, and Yuki looked up to see a wild grin on the other. Casting down his eyes, Yuki continued digging.

'His hair really is like a straw hat,' he thought, not often noticing how strange it was now that he was used to it. The way the sun shimmered on him, it was different. More radiant, somehow. He ignored the soft, fluttery feeling in the pit of his stomach, but it lay dormant even as they cleared out the last remainders of sand.

"Ah!" The sand that had been in the way was now almost completely gone. Fingers brushed again, then palms. Yuki was about to retract his hand when it was clasped by the other, interlacing their fingers. His heart jumping, Yuki looked up to lock eyes with the other, who was grinning again, holding up peace on his fingers. There was a happiness on his face, in that moment, in the feel of the other's hand, that brought a soft, tender smile to Yuki's lips. Chizuru blinked, noticing, before his own smile retracted a bit, becoming shy. A short laugh, and the hand was gone.

Yuki blinked, took out his hand, and brushed the sand off his clothes. Chizuru did the same.

~~oo~~

"Ah~! There aren't any big trees _anywhere!" _They had left the park, and Chizuru had been on the lookout for something to climb.

"We could go by the book store now, and see if there are any trees on the way."

"Yeah, I guess..." Chizuru sighed dejectedly for a moment, before putting his eyes back on the road before bookstore was in the distance; one could barely see it from the bottom of the hill.

"Hey, I just got an idea..." A wicked grin appeared on the blond's face, and he got on his bike. "Hey, Yuki! Let's ride down the hill!"

"Let's...?" He looked at the bike. There was just enough room for someone to sit, if they were small.

"Yeah, we'll get there faster! Come on, sit!"

Yuki again looked at the bike, then back at Chizuru. He looked so expectant. Conceding defeat, he climbed onto the back of the bike, sitting sideways in the miniscule space provided. It hardly seemed safe, but then again, was it ever safe in the first place?

"Okay, hold on tight!" The bike jerked forward, and Yuki quickly lifted his legs up so they were elevated, wrapping his arms around Chizuru's skinny waist. The bike had a shaky start, as the balance was off-center and hard to adjust to, but by the time they neared the drop off for the hill it's rider knew what he was doing. One final yell of gaiety echoed from the blond's lips before the started racing down the pavement hill, Yuki clinging to the other boy tightly with just a bit of fear. Even as they accelerated downwards, he could feel the uneasy sway and the way he sort of slipped off the seat, making him hold on even tighter.

In mere moments they were at the bottom and racing toward the bookstore, Chizuru hollering with a youthful joy that came with thrills such as this. Beneath the summer sun, they quickly passed under the shade of buildings as they rode, Chizuru clenching the brakes to slow them down. They lurched forward just outside the bookstore, causing Chizuru to ram into his own handlebars, Yuki plowing into his back with a breathless 'oof'.

"Ah, ha ha, that was fun, right?" A breathless and bruised Chizuru laughed only to meet the stubborn eyes of Yuki, and he silently got up and walked into the store. The former sighed, and hooked his bike somewhere before walking inside as well.

~~oo~~

"...Hey, are you going to buy it, or not?"

"I have to read it, or I won't know whether I want to keep it."

"Come on, just buy the book already! We're losing precious daylight!"

Yuki just kept reading. Irritated, Chizuru waited patiently. Yuki flipped a page. Then another. Chizuru quickly striked, grabbing the book from his hands and running to the counter, already slamming down some bills.

"Wha-?"

"We're not getting any younger, so now I'm buying it!" He huffed, watching the cashier ring up his purchase. "After all, it's what a good date does."

"...What?" Yuki now stood beside him, an eyebrow seriously threatening to raise. Chizuru only smirked in reply.

"What do you mean, what? I picked you up, you rode on the back of my bike. We even held hands!" He grinned merrily, obviously playing the fool. "So I'll continue being a good date and buy you your book."

"...You did all those things, not me."

"I never said you did, but you've been doing a great job playing the woman." Yuki, after these statements, was definitely dumbfounded now, and couldn't find the motivation to stop Chizuru from buying the book. He just stood there, blank, his face feeling a little warmer than usual.

"Okay, we got the book! Now we have to find a tree! We weren't looking when we came."

"Hey, I'm hungry. If I'm your date, you should buy me lunch."

"What? I was joking!"

As they walked out of the store, they passed by the toy machines, and stopped. Taking a few moments to stare at them, the two boys pondered.

"Should we?"

"I guess so."

They crouched down, trying to find the proper group of prizes to select from. It didn't take them long to make a selection, and soon they were popping coins into the machine and turning the knob.

"How do you always get the good one?" Yuki looked at own his measely pick.

"Heh, luck, maybe?" Chizuru grinned with his prize, and once again Yuki found himself smiling back. Sometimes it was sort of... contagious. His smile made one want to smile back. Or maybe, that was just Yuki. Not that it mattered.

~~oo~~

Soon, it became sunset. It was still too hot for them to want to venture out very far, so they never found a tree big enough to hold them. In the end, they just came back to the play ground, and spent their last few moments basking in the fading rays.

Yuki lazily turned to look at his friend, who was looking out into space, a faraway look in his eyes. In this moment, Yuki allowed himself to admire him. His bright blond hair, his shimmering blue eyes rimmed in short, light lashes; his soft features, fair skin, the mole under his eye, his silver earring; how he's not afraid to run up and jump on someone when he first meets them, or his dramatic nature that makes everything seem like an adventure; the way he can smile with such intensity, yet look so gentle when he's calm; the way he always includes others, and is never quick to give up even if he rarely succeeds; the way he can spread that persistence, friendship, and happiness to everyone around him.

"Yuki? What are you doing?" Yuki blinked; since when had Chizuru been looking at him? "What's with that weird smile?"

Yuki turned, hugging his knees so he could become something like a ball. He couldn't even feel the smile on his face, it was so comfortable, but this made it harder to tell if it was gone.

"..." From the corner of his eye, he could see Chizuru smile warmly, and inch a bit closer. "Hey Yuki, today you've kept making this sort of smile. You don't usually do that."

Yuki stayed in his ball, listening.

"Well, I mean, you smile sometimes, but this smile's different. I'm not really sure how though. But it's different, and I like it." Yuki looked up a bit, catching Chizuru's eyes. The latter smiled brightly at him, and then, slowly, Yuki smiled back.

There was so many things Yuki could have said at that moment. So many words, observations, apologies, thank yous. Deep penetrating words, simple kind ones, thankful ones. But none of the words would have worked, he knew that. They wouldn't have made sense, they wouldn't have been understood in their full, complete meaning. No words could even begin to express the amount of warmth and affection behind Yuki's feelings. They would have been meaningless, like the words he used when they first met, like the apology and Chizuru fell from the tree. Important words, but lost without the speaker's context.

Yes, there were many things he could have said, but none of them could have rivaled the simple action that was placing his hand on top of his friend's, keeping that smile on his face. And no words could have reciprocated the same depth and feeling than when Chizuru took that hand, and intertwined their fingers.

The wind blew past, but it couldn't drown out the sound of their smiles, a silent hum through their hearts, the sound of a special happiness.


End file.
